Dubai , Aug 07, 2009
Dubai legal System in questions
Charles Ridley, a Bahrain-based British businessman, is facing trial in the Dubai court system. He is one of seven people accused of defrauding Dubai Islamic BankDubai Islamic BankLoading… of more than $500m, charges which he denies.
However, Mr Ridley, standing in white prisoner’s uniform in Dubai’s court of first instance, can understand proceedings only when the translator relates a direct question from the judge, or when the testimony turns to English. Even then he has to overcome the poor acoustics of the wood-panelled court.
“I need a translator so I can understand what is going on,” Mr Ridley says.
The high-profile case is one of many inching their way through the system this summer as the government’s corruption investigation leads to court cases.
The fate of Mr Ridley and other defendants has given rise to increasing calls for legal reform of the Dubai judiciary, which Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, has criticised as outdated and inefficient.
Also the sharp economic downturn in the city has prompted an increase in financial crimes, especially default, which remains a criminal rather than civil matter in Dubai.
“We need full legal reform to update all the laws, not just commercial but also criminal,” says Habib al-Mulla, a prominent Dubai-based lawyer.
“Part of the issue is people are facing prosecution and the laws aren’t adapted to financial crimes, and the judiciary can’t handle the situation if laws are still holding us back. The problem, though, is when will it be done?”
Mr Ridley’s unheeded call for a simultaneous translator would be simple enough for the courts to satisfy, but changes to other elements of the United Arab Emirates judicial system would need approval from the federal government in Abu Dhabi, the capital.
The issue has been thrown into sharper relief by the case of Abdulsalam al-Marri, a former chief executive of Lagoons, a property development, who was held for nine months before last week being acquitted of bribery charges.
Mr Marri is one of many executives caught up in the Dubai government’s anti-corruption investigation, which was launched last year. He feels aggrieved at having spent almost a year behind bars, during which he missed the birth of his twins, and his professional reputation is shattered.
“We trust our legal system, but the procedures were not right. We can’t sit in jail and then go to court,” says Mr Marri, who is likely to face an appeal from the state prosecutor.
According to lawyers who declined to be identified, one of the most important legal reforms needed in the UAE is prompt investigation and presentation of evidence against the accused.
They are also concerned about the freer rein extended to the state security services by the public prosecutor’s office, which they say is a change from a decade ago when the security services were on a tighter leash.
“The prosecution should have a maximum six months to prove their case and charge defendants,” says one senior lawyer.
In recent years, the internal security service has played a larger role in investigations of white-collar crime, especially those relating to government corruption.
Suspects detained by state security are frequently held for weeks, sometimes in solitary confinement and without access to legal or consular access, lawyers say.
Photo: Shahram Abdullah Zadeh CEO Al Fajer Properties 2008. The suit has challenged the transparency of the justice system of Dubai, which requires foreign investors to take on a UAE partner. Zadeh said he reverted to a civil action when prosecutors refused to file criminal charges against Sheikh Hasher Juma Al Maktoum and his son Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum
Shahram Zadeh CEO Al Fajer Properties Dubai, a longstanding Iranian expatriate in Dubai, says he was detained for two months last year. After extensive interrogation, Mr Zadeh was released without charge but has had his passport withheld.
Since then, the Dubai authorities have refused to accept attempts by Mr Zadeh to launch criminal proceedings against members of the ruling family over the ownership of Al Fajer Properties.
Al Fajer claims Mr Zadeh stole money from the company, but the courts are hearing a $1.9bn civil law suit filed by Mr Zadeh against Sheikh Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum and two of his children ( the son, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Malktoum and his sister Sheikha Maryam Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum) in which Mr. Zadeh claims they used the detention to seize the company illegally. He alleges that they were only sponsors and did not invest. They deny the allegation.
Sheikh Maktoum Hasher bin Juma Al Maktoum Al Fajer Properties in Dubai. Appointed by his father Sheikh Hasher Maktoum Juma Al Maktoum Mid March 2008 to the President of Al Fajer Properties
Lawyers say defendants should be allowed to have a legal representative present when they are being questioned, and police should stop sitting in on the weekly conversations lawyers are permitted to have with detained clients in the run-up to and during court hearings.
The public prosecution’s file of evidence should also be made available if suspects are detained for long periods before being charged and tried, the lawyers say.
Changes to the commercial courts – especially those that deal with the collapsed real estate market – are also needed, the lawyers argue. These changes could include cheaper fees and more efficient scheduling of cases, which at present can drag on for months.
But even if the city decides to overhaul criminal and commercial procedures, the matter is federal and therefore needs to be addressed by the government based in Abu Dhabi.
“In the end, Dubai can improve efficiency on the edge, but this will still be short [of what is required] unless they get the federal umbrella to change,” says one critic.
By Simeon Kerr in Dubai
source Zawya
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June 5, 2011
The letter below is from Safi Qurashi where he
The Dubai Court of Appeal heard on
Not long ago, British businessman Ryan Cornelius was living the high life, doing deals out of Bahrain and taking his family big-game fishing on his yacht and on safari in Kenya. He’s now into his third year in a Dubai jail cell, yet to be convicted of anything.“The worst aspect of the way we’ve been treated is the fact that the legal system seems to be so suspended in its own inefficiency,” he said from a pay phone at Dubai’s Central Prison. “We just don’t seem to move forward. The whole legal system seems to hold you in a state of constant suspension.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — 
